Logoff users, safelyclose open files 1

[wtotten]

Hi all,

I am looking for a way to logoff users at a specfic time and safely close any open apps and files. How can I do This?

Bill

 

[markdmac]

Educate your users.

You can easily force logoff with logon hour restrictions, however this will not automatically save data. Only your users will be able to to that.

Technology does not solve all issues unfortunately. Force logoff via logon restrictions and the first time a user looses a little bit of work is likely to be the last time they forget to logoff.

I had a customer with this problem and the users were just locking workstations while still logged into a shared access database that the company business was run on. This state prevented backup. The person in charge there ended up threatening to fire anyone who did not log off since a failed database with no backups would have put the company out of business.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

 

[TechSoEasyMVP]

There is a way to do this, and it's fairly simple to use. In the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit there's a special screensaver called WinExit.scr. It is customizable and will close any open application safely and will save any open Office documents as well.

Download the Resource Kit here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...69-57FF-4AE7-96EE-B18C4790CFFD&displaylang=en

Info on the tool in this KB article:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314999

Jeff
TechSoEasy

 

[markdmac]

A correction to TechSoEasy's post. That screen saver will force the closing of applicaitons but does not save data. As the KB states:

The Force application termination option forces programs to quit even if the programs contain unsaved data. If you do not use this option, programs that contain unsaved data do not quit and the user is not logged off. It is a good idea to set your corporate policy to automatically save user documents if you use the Force application termination option.

Logon hour restrictions will do the same thing. You have the option of allowing existing sessions to remain or terminate based on your policy. If you force the loggoff after hours have expired, unsaved work is not saved. This can be very problematic for certain applications like MSAccess.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

 

[TechSoEasyMVP]

Sorry, I should have stated that "with a proper GPO" it will save documents. I've not used it in an environment with Access however.

But I'm also aware of this 3rd party program which can handle this quite well. I've only downloaded and tested, never in a production environment though, so I can't vouch for more than a simple test.

http://www.1e.com/SoftwareProducts/NightWatchman

Jeff
TechSoEasy

 

[wtotten]

Techsoeasy,

You stated "Sorry, I should have stated that "with a proper GPO" it will save documents."

Is there a GPO setting that will save the data?

Bill

 

[TechSoEasyMVP]

As the description markdmac quoted above, you would need to set a GPO that autosaves documents after a set period of time. For instance, if documents were autosaved every 5 minutes, then forcing a logoff at night would not cause a loss of data in Office programs as long as the user wasn't actively editing a document. If they were editing a document, then the warning they receive which states that the system is about to be logged off would give them the opportunity to close it out correctly.

Info on Office GPO's:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011362601033.aspx

Jeff
TechSoEasy

 

[wtotten]

Thanks TechSoEasy.

Bill